Avtar Group, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Solutions firm, recognized and awarded inspiring leaders of employee resource groups (ERG) at organizations, inspiring mentors, and sponsors who advocate to develop and advance careers of members from the underrepresented talent groups.
 
The awards were announced in the following categories:
Best Leader – ERG for the LGBQ+ Community; Best Leader – ERG for the Women group, Best Mentor and Best Sponsor.
 
The awards were announced at the 4^th edition of Avtar’s annual virtual DEI conference, The Power of I today.

Announcing the winners, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar Group said, “India Inc. needs leaders with astute DEI intent to foster the culture of inclusion at workplaces. Even as companies are accelerating their DEI journeys, there is empirical and anecdotal data on employees continuing to feel not valued and included. It is not the mathematics that draw up real inclusion. It is the exchange of human values, stories, lived experiences that make an everlasting impact. To recognize such inspiring managers and leaders as part of this year’s POI conference, we instituted awards for being the best in the categories of mentors, sponsors, and ERG leaders. To these leaders influencing and enabling inclusion is a way of life and as allies they help every individual they are connected to, to rise to their fullest potential. This I would say is the Power of an Individual towards unveiling the diversity possibilities.”
 
Award winners (category wise):
 
Best ERG Leader – LGBTQ+: Winner Julien Brain, Director, Global AWS Programs & Global LGBTQ+ Charter Lead, Wipro

Best ERG Leader – LGBTQ+: Choice of Jury - ERG Leader LGBTQ+ Ali Khan, Global Head - Governance, Risk & Compliance, ZS Associates India Pvt. Ltd.

Best ERG Leader -Women: Winner Jasbir Kaur, Program Leader IBM JumpStart Program, IBM India Private Limited

Best ERG Leader – Women: Choice of Jury Kannu Priya Taneja, Associate Director, People & Culture, Areteans Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (part of Omnicom group)

Best Sponsor – Winner: - Prashant Gupta, Sr. Director of Operations, ZS Associates
 
Best Sponsor: Choice of Jury: Rohit Ramanand, Vice President, Walmart Global Tech India
 
Best Mentor – Winner: Thiru Nagarajan, Vice President - HR, IBM India/SA, IBM India Private Limited

Best Mentor – Choice of Jury: Sandhya Ramachandran Arun, VP and Sector Delivery and Operations Exec, Wipro LTD.
 
Best Mentor – Choice of Jury: Satya Jayaraman, Senior Director, Engineering, Quaclomm India Pvt. Ltd.
 
At the conference themed Diversity at Dispersed, Digital, and Dynamic Workforce, Dawn Kolb, VP, Quality Assurance and Release Management, Lumen delivered the keynote on how companies can use the collective muscle of the four Ds to foster inclusion. Other speakers at the conference included, Aparna Rao, Country Head, Cargill Business Services; Argenio Antao, COO, Colliers India; Vasudevan Swaminathan, Founder – CEO, Zuci Systems; Prachi Rastogi, DEI Lead, IBM APAC; Rashmi Nair, Director and Head of HR, Lumen India; Rajesh Srivastava, President and Chief Human Resources Officer Welspun India Ltd.; Ali Khan, Global Head Governance, Risk, Compliance & Audit, ZS Associates; Dr. Anbu Arumugam, Senior Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Public Administration, Government Arts College for Men (Autonomous); Julien Brain, Director, Global AWS Programs & Global LGBTQ+ Charter Lead at Wipro; Amita Karadkhedkar, Senior Vice President - Citi Global Wealth Technology | Co-Chair Citi India Pride Network; Jyothi Suresh, Senior Director, Product Development, Lumen; Smriti Mathur, Senior Director, and Head of Human Resources Pega India; Dr Jagatheesh Jayanand, Head – Learning & Talent Development, Bosch India; Rajesh Chopra, Head - Advisors South Asia, Mastercard Inc.; Vieshaka L Dutta, Director - Diversity Equity and Inclusion, India and APAC, Publicis Sapient.